


Distant Deeps or Skies

by endlcss_possibilities



Category: Devil May Cry, DmC: Devil May Cry
Genre: But I really wanted to write these fuckers soooo, I'm using my own headcanons dammit, M/M, This is obviously kind of an AU since the game isn't out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-01 13:54:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17868506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endlcss_possibilities/pseuds/endlcss_possibilities
Summary: “You’ll all die eventually, what’s a few decades sooner?” The huge bird took wing again, feathers glittering with electricity that he sent arcing towards the few demons that were left. “Is that demon hunter going to help us or is he just going to stand there? If he doesn’t close his mouth, he’ll start catching demon flies.”~~~V didn’t know Nero. At least, not like he knew Dante, which admittedly wasn’t much. It wasn’t like he’d ever met the guy before, but at least he’d heard of him, heard whispers of his name and what he’d done.Nero was practically an unknown, all V knew about him was that he was Dante’s nephew and that he helped run Devil May Cry.And now he was stuck traveling with him for who knows how long...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title is a line from William Blake's "The Tyger" for obvious reasons :)

V didn’t know Nero. At least, not like he knew Dante, which admittedly wasn’t much. It wasn’t like he’d ever met the guy before, but at least he’d heard of him, heard whispers of his name and what he’d done.

Nero was practically an unknown, all V knew about him was that he was Dante’s nephew and that he helped run Devil May Cry.

But that was it.

And now he was stuck traveling with the guy and his mechanic friend, Nico, in a van for God knows how long.

And while Nico could talk enough to rival even Griffon, both Nero and V himself weren’t that big on small talk. Which meant that most of the ride so far had been either Nico talking fast enough to make V dizzy or awkward silence with no in between the two.

“You guys ain’t much for talking, are ya?” Nico asked around her cigarette, as if to emphasize V’s thoughts. “Gonna be a long ride if you keep that up.”

Nero just rolled his eyes and kicked his feet up on the dashboard, so V just went back to his book. If Nero wasn’t going to put in the effort, then neither was he.

“So what’s your deal, huh tall, dark and brooding?” Nico asked over her shoulder and Nero snorted when V glanced up, unamused.

“I’m the guy who hired you, that’s all you need to know for now.”

“Oh, trying to be mysterious huh? Alright, you keep your secrets, but I’m sure we’ll find out all there is to know sooner or later.”

“Preferably later,” V said shortly. He didn’t take kindly to people prying into his personal affairs, especially when they’d only just met.

“Lay off the guy, Nico,” Nero piped up to V’s surprise. “Most sane people don’t tell their entire life story within the first hour of meeting someone.”

V’s mouth quirked up despite himself, amused both at Nero sticking up for him and Nico’s consequent grumbling. He felt Griffon’s tattoos stir against his skin, the bird demon obviously wanting In on the conversation, but V quieted him silently.

/Not now, not yet./

The time would come when V would have to show off his demon friends, but he didn’t think inside of the van was a good option. Griffon and Shadow were overwhelming enough as it was, even when they were outside.

“Hey Nero, not to alarm you but there are some real ugly looking fuckers blocking the road…” Nico said and Nero swore softly.

Maybe V would be introducing his friends sooner than he thought…

Nero glanced back at V from the passenger seat.

“Alright pretty boy, I don’t know what your deal is either, but I need you to stay put and stay out of trouble, alright? You’re the one paying us, so don’t go dying on us.”

V rolled his eyes, but Nero didn’t give him a chance to respond before the demon hunter was out the door, guns already out. V glanced at Nico, who shrugged at him.

“Don’t ask me, I don’t question him when it comes to these things. But I would like to get paid, which means he needs to get paid, so I suggest listening to-hey, where are you going?”

Before she could finish her ridiculous thought, V had followed Nero out of the van. Everyone who didn’t know about his demons thought that he was so helpless, just because he carried a cane around. And from the looks of things, Nero was indeed one of those people, judging from the glare that he gave V when he saw him out of the van.

“Thought I told you to stay put.”

“You did, I just didn’t do it,” V replied calmly. Nero bared his teeth, turning away for a second to shoot at a demon, then turned back.

“What about ‘ _don’t get killed so I can get paid_ ’ don’t you understand?”

“The ‘ _I don’t need to be coddled, don’t worry I won’t die_ ’ part.”

“You are already a pain in the ass, you know that? Duck, by the way.”

V ducked down obediently and Nero shot a demon that had been creeping up behind him (and which Griffon had already warned him about).

“I’ve been told,” V said, continuing Nero’s thought from before. The demon hunter huffed out a long-suffering sounding breath.

“Just get back in the van,” He said. “For my continued mental health if nothing else.”

“Duck, by the way.”

“What?”

Nero flinched when something huge and dark zoomed over his head and collided with a demon that had been poised to attack him. Lightning struck the demon, which promptly disintegrated into dust. Nero whirled to watch the demon die, then turned back to V and the huge bird that was circling over his head.

“I told you I could take care of myself,” V said calmly, holding out his arm for the bird, who landed and appraised Nero with dark eyes.

“I mean, I wouldn’t think you could fight either V, if I didn’t know better,” The bird said, his voice double layered, with a regular pitched voice and then a deeper pitched one under it. “You look pretty puny compared to some of the people you cavort about with.”

“Less talking, more demon killing, Griffon.” V reached up to flick the bird’s wing. “Unless you’d actually like us to die?”

“You’ll all die eventually, what’s a few decades sooner?” The huge bird took wing again, feathers glittering with electricity that he sent arcing towards the few demons that were left. “Is that demon hunter going to help us or is he just going to stand there? If he doesn’t close his mouth, he’ll start catching demon flies.”

Nero snapped his mouth closed, shooting V a glare that clearly said “we’re going to talk about this later when we aren’t getting attacked by demons”, and went back to killing said demons. V let him do most of the work (so he wouldn’t feel so bad about being so utterly wrong about V being helpless), only jumping in to kill a few demons that Griffon weakened with his lightning.

“So V, I assume that you haven’t let your new friends in on exactly what it is that you can do?” Griffon circled down to glide alongside V again as they headed back to the van.

“Yeah, why don’t you do that?” Nico called from where she was perched in the window, watching them. “Obviously you got some tricks up your sleeves. Which is impressive considering the fact that you don’t have any sleeves.”

“Let’s get back on the road first,” V said. “I don’t relish the thought of any demons coming to avenge their kin.”

“I don’t think that bird can fit in my van,” Nico said. “Though where you were hiding him before, I don’t wanna know.”

As if to demonstrate, V held out his arm for Griffon to land on and the demon melted away into black particles that settled back on V’s skin, darkening the tattoos along his arms and shoulders back to black instead of the pale grey they had become.

“Voila,” V said simply and climbed back into the van, leaving Nico and Nero staring after him.

“V, what the hell are you?” Nero asked, following him and Nico slid back into the driver’s seat to continue driving. When V didn’t respond right away, Nero followed him to the back of the van, grabbing one of V’s arms. Only to let go again real quick when V glowered at him and the shadow of glowing wings rose off of his back, electricity crackling through his hair.

“Gentlemen, the two things I can’t stand in my ride are having sex and pissing matches, so if you’ll kindly stop acting like children, I’d much appreciate it,” Nico called without looking behind her. Nero sighed and ran a hand over his face roughly as V sat down, no expression on his face.

“Sorry, I’ll try again. V, what the ever-loving fuck are you?”

“Nero!” Nico’s yell was mixed with an irritated bird screech that emanated, ghost-like from around V.

“I think we have a right to at least know what the fuck is going on with the person who hired us!” Nero spat back. When V didn’t respond, only smirked, Nero growled and reached down to haul the dark haired man up by his coat collar. “That bird was a demon, I could tell. What are you and why can you summon a demon?”

“Not just a demon…”

“What was that?” Nero asked angrily.

“Not just one demon.”

Nero suddenly became aware of two glowing points in the darkness next to V and a low growling that he’d previously assumed was the van engine.

"Oh." There was a giant black panther now perched on the bench seat next to V.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nero suddenly became aware of two glowing points in the darkness next to V and a low growling that he’d previously assumed was the van engine.  
> "Oh." There was a giant black panther now perched on the bench seat next to V.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Shadow is technically male, but hush

Nero watched in stunned disbelief as the panther curled itself around, settling half on V’s lap, staring at Nero all the while.

  
“Y’know what, I really don’t wanna know what’s going on back there. Cause if my eyes don’t deceive me, there’s a panther sitting on your lap, V, and I don’t know if I want that to be true.”

  
“Her name is Shadow,” V said, leaning back in his seat. “The bird is Griffon. And yes, they are demons, before you ask. You don’t need to know why, only that they won’t harm you unless you harm me.”

  
“I don’t know if that’s a very good explanation,” Nero said slowly. “But I guess it’s better than nothing.” He said the last part a little quicker when Shadow fixed ruby eyes on him. V smiled and the panther slowly melted away just like Griffon had done, only this time Nero noticed that it had been the tattoos on V’s chest that had become lighter when Shadow was out.

  
“Your tattoos…”

  
“They are the source of them, yes. Think of it as a physical representation of my agreement with them.”

  
“I think that if you weren’t paying us right now, I’d kill you,” Nero muttered, flopping into the passenger seat and crossing his arms.

  
“Oh stop your sulking. It is what it is, and V can summon demons. So what, at least there’s some demons not trying to kill us for a damn change,” Nico pointed out and V’s mouth quirked up in a half smile.

  
Out-argued, Nero simply kicked his feet up on the dashboard and settled for ignoring the other two. He may have had to deal with all of this, but that didn’t mean that he had to enjoy it. The only thing keeping him from saying anything more was the fact that V was indeed paying them and the sooner they got this job over with, the sooner he could leave it behind him, and never have to think about V again.

  
Well that, and the threat of Nico kicking his ass for “sulking”. That was another reason to keep his mouth well and truly shut.

  
~~~

  
“Well, this is gonna take a while if we keep running into closed roads and demons,” Nico said as they had to make yet another precarious detour around some fallen rubble that was blocking the road. “This bastard you want us to kill isn’t making this easy for us.” She aimed the last sentence back at V, who was half reclined in the back of the van, eyes closed.

  
“Of course not. Why do you think I hired you instead of attempting it myself? I never said it was going to be a simple task.”

  
Nero opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but a sudden jolt of the van cut him off as they all tried to steady themselves.

  
“Now what?” The demon hunter growled as the van came to a shuddering halt.

  
“Sounds like we hit something.” Nico hopped out of the stopped van, circling around it, only to stop by the rear wheel. She swore loudly, prompting the other two to get out as well to join her.

  
“That doesn’t look good,” V said softly, looking at the shredded tire that the van was currently sporting.

  
“Yeah no kidding,” Nero said. “What shitty timing.”

  
As if to emphasize his point, several demons decided that now would be the best time to attack them.

  
“Of fucking course.” Nero loosened his sword. “V, help me lead them away from Nico so that she can fix the van.”

  
“Oh, you’re trusting me now?” V asked, something smug in his tone.

  
“Just shut up and help me!”

  
“Sure you won’t kill me for summoning demo-“

  
“I’ll kill you if you keep talking, V, I swear,” Nero threatened. “Less talking, more demon killing.”

  
“If you say so.” V stretched out his arm and Griffon spiraled down out of nowhere to land on it. “What do you think, Griffon? Think he’s telling the truth?”

  
“I think we should lead these poor saps on a merry chase!” The bird cawed, flaring his wings.

  
“I’ll let you lead then,” V said, pulling a mock-gracious bow. Griffon launched off of his shoulder, circling around the demons in order to lead them away from Nico and the van.  
“Come on, demon hunter, let’s go!”

  
Nero grumbled but followed suit, drawing the demons further and further away.

  
~~~

  
“Fuck’s sake, how many are there?” There seemed to be no end to the demons that they were attracting.

  
And since they had to keep them from circling back to Nico, they had to make sure they killed all of them before they could get the chance to leave. Nero wiped blood from his face with the back of his arm before it could run into his eyes and glanced over at V, who at this point, had summoned Shadow as well to help out. But still there were even more demons coming, as if drawn by their kin to the fight.

  
V seemed to be flagging slightly, leaning a bit harder on his cane and relying more on Griffon and Shadow to help him dodge attacks. Nero moved closer to him, helping the man’s demons to cover him.

  
“Hanging in there?”

  
“Perfectly fine,” V said quietly, but he didn’t seem fine to Nero. They had to end this before one of them got seriously hurt.

  
“Can you see any way to get out of this mess?” Nero called to Griffon. He still didn’t quite trust V’s demons, but Griffon had a better vantage point than any of them.

  
“Not really,” The bird replied. “There are still way too many of them.”

  
Griffon shot lightning at a demon that Shadow had impaled, and V darted forward to kill it quickly with his cane, Shadow disintegrating under his feet to help him get back to his original position.

  
“I could always-“ V started, but Griffon cut him off immediately.

  
“You’re way too tired for that and you know it.” Shadow nudged under V’s free hand, bumping his hip.

  
“But-“

  
“The feather brain’s right, don’t chance it,” The panther said quietly, and Nero startled.

  
“You can talk too? You have to stop surprising me like that, it’s not good for my heart.”

  
“You’re part demon, sunshine, you can handle a few surprises,” Griffon said archly. “And if Shadow’s actually agreeing with me, then you know we’re right, V.”

  
"Is that how that works?" V was obviously trying to go for snarky, but to Nero he just sounded tired. "I mean, we're pretty outclassed here, no offense Nero."

  
"None taken, I agree. But what is it they don't want you to do?"

  
"This." With that cryptic remark, V merely raised his free hand and snapped his fingers.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "None taken, I agree. But what is it they don't want you to do?"  
> "This." With that cryptic remark, V merely raised his free hand and snapped his fingers.

Nero watched in stunned silence as V’s hair bled from black to a silvery white much like his own.

Even more notable was the fact that a giant stone golem had risen up from the ground, smashing through more than a few of the demons that had been around where it had emerged. 

“Hoooly shit…” Nero muttered, but he wasn’t about to let a possible opening get away. So while the golem smashed around, clearing them a path, Nero grabbed V’s arm to pull him along after, Shadow and Griffon taking care of any demons that snuck up behind them. 

“Are you gonna explain that one?” Nero asked of the man stumbling alongside him. “Because I’m very curious as to what the fuck that was.”

“Long story short, I can summon three demons,” V said breathlessly. “That one, however, takes a toll on me.”

His hair had gone back to black by this point, and he sagged more heavily against Nero’s side. They needed to get somewhere safe, and quickly. There was no telling when more demons were going to come and V looked in no condition to do any more fighting. 

As if to emphasize his point, V chose that moment to just collapse, forcing Nero to catch him. Shadow came up on V’s other side to help Nero support him, letting the demon hunter settle V against her side. 

“Well, shit,” Nero said quietly. “Now what?”

“We have to keep going,” Griffon said. “Don’t we? We gotta catch back up with Nico! Plus, we can’t just sit here, we’re pretty much demon chow if we stay in one place.”

“Griffon’s right. We should keep moving. Just put V on my back. He won’t fall off and it will be easier than you trying to carry him.” Nero acquiesced and picked V up to put him on Shadow’s back. The man was startlingly light and Nero was able to lift him easily. 

Shadow’s fur shifted and a black band curled around V’s waist, keeping him in place on the panther demon’s back. 

“I think there’s a town this way,” Nero said once they’d gotten V settled. “Hopefully there’s a phone there so that we can call Nico to meet us.”

“We’ll follow you, hotshot,” Griffon said, swooping down to circle around Nero and then back up over his head. “We got your back.”

~~~

“I know he didn’t want to tell me, but seriously, what is V?” Nero asked about an hour into their trek to the nearest town. They hadn’t run into any more demons he was grateful for the reprieve, but there was only so much silent walking that he could take.

“I’ll let him tell you exactly, but he’s not fully human,” Shadow said.

“I figured as much. Is that why he has you guys?”

“Not directly,” Griffon piped in this time, coming to rest on Shadow’s hindquarters. “Basically V was born really really sick. Like he would die within a year sick. Obviously his parents didn’t want him to die, so they sought out many many options that could help V live. Ultimately, none of them helped beyond a few years. So they decided to seek out methods that were a little more...out there, shall we say? A little more risky.”

“Like demons?” Nero asked and Griffon bobbed his head. 

“Like demons. Three demons, in particular. On our own, none of us are strong enough to support V, but all together, we greatly extend his lifespan. Longer than a human’s, I might add. However, there was a price for this, that his parents ended up paying.”

“They’re dead, aren’t they?”

“Can’t be life without death,” Griffon quipped. “They were willing to give their lives for their son’s.”

“And I’m very grateful, which is why I’m going through with this.” Nero looked down at V’s quiet voice. The dark haired man was still leaning over Shadow, but his eyes were open, which was an improvement.

“Well, look who’s awake! C’mon Shakespeare, you know better than to summon Nightmare when you’re that tired!” Griffon admonished.

“What else could I have done? We were completely surrounded. I just gave us the means to an escape.”

“While I understand, I agree with Griffon. You shouldn’t overextend yourself like that. We can only support you so much when you summon him.”

“I promise not to do it for a while,” V said tiredly, finally sitting up. He glanced up at Nero. “So they told you why I have them?”

“I’ve never heard of demons supporting a human life like that,” Nero said. 

“It’s not a common thing. And I don’t think it could be done on a normal human.”

“What are you saying?”

“What, you didn’t ask Dante why I asked you two to help me with this?” V asked and Nero shook his head. “I asked you specifically because you and he are only part demon. This demon, Urizen wants to become king and eradicate half breeds. You know about Dante’s father, yes?”

“Sparda?”

“The same. Sparda basically rebelled against demon norm when he married and bore children with Dante’s mother. Demons like Urizen aren’t so supportive of that. But I could never have defeated him myself. So I needed you two. Who better qualified to take down Urizen than descendants of Sparda?”

“Why you?” Nero asked. “Why are you so determined to kill this demon?”

“Why? Because I myself am half demon.”


End file.
